Northwest Herald area notes: Richmond-Burton aims for 4th straight 4A semis; Prairie Ridge tries for 5th semi in 7 years

Richmond-Burton has a chance to do something only one other McHenry County area team has done in IHSA football playoff history this week.

If the No. 1-seeded Rockets (11-0) win at No. 13 Providence (7-4), a 2 p.m. kickoff Saturday, they will be the second area team to reach four consecutive semifinals.

Marian Central played in five consecutive semifinals in the 1980s under legendary coach Don Penza, from 1983-87, winning three Class 2A state championships in that stretch.

The Hurricanes’ semifinal streak ended the next season, but in 1989, about eight months after Penza died, Marian added a fourth state title under coach Steve Patton, an assistant on Penza’s staff.

R-B joined an elite club with Marian and Prairie Ridge (2009-11 and 2015-2017) that reached three consecutive semifinals last season. Since Mike Noll took over as coach in 2018, the Rockets lost to Class 4A state champion IC Catholic in 2018, won the 2019 state championship, then fell to state champ Joliet Catholic in the semis last year. There were no playoffs in the 2020 year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Rockets’ toughest game this season came in a 33-26 win over Normal West in Week 4. The Wildcats went on to win the Big Twelve Conference and were knocked out of the Class 6A playoffs in the second round by East St. Louis 40-0. The Flyers are considered the favorite to win Class 6A.

R-B rolled through Morris, the top-ranked team in Class 5A at that time, for a 31-7 victory. The Rockets’ defense has allowed only 53 points in the seven games since Normal West.

R-B won its first two playoff games by combined scores of 103-6 over Ridgewood (49-0) and Chicago Urban Prep/Bronzeville (54-6).

The Rockets know they will be challenged by Providence on Saturday. The Celtics play a demanding schedule in the CCL-ESCC Orange Division. They avenged a regular-season loss to Joliet Catholic (49-41) with a 24-14 win Saturday.

Providence’s other losses came against larger schools who will play in quarterfinal games this weekend. The Celtics lost to defending Class 7A state champion Wheaton North (28-20), the 7A state runner-up St. Rita (26-16) and to Loyola (34-22), the top-ranked in The Associated Press final Class 8A poll.

The winner between R-B and Providence will get the winner of No. 3 St. Francis (10-1) at No. 7 Rochelle (9-2) in the semifinals.

PR moves on: Prairie Ridge, as usual, is back in the Class 6A quarterfinals after its 57-22 win over Kaneland on Saturday. The Wolves have been to the playoffs for eight straight seasons and only twice in that stretch did not play in a quarterfinal.

No. 2 Prairie Ridge (10-1) goes to No. 11 Harlem (8-3) at 5 p.m. Saturday. If the Wolves win, it will be their fifth trip to the semifinals since 2015.

The Wolves’ dynamic offense is scoring 47 points a game, led by quarterback Tyler Vasey, who has 3,114 rushing yards for the season, with 1,394 in the past four games.

Vasey is fourth on the IHSA rushing list for a season.

Wolves coach Chris Schremp is just enjoying another postseason ride with his coaching staff and players.

“Just keeping these guys together. That’s what we talk about, getting one more week together,” Schremp said. “All of our coaches have said it, we really like this group of guys. It’s a great group of seniors and a lot of good underclassmen who are still learning.

“We’re just having fun, and we’ll keep going, keep plugging away. I don’t think many teams thought we’d get this far, so we’re happy with where we’re at.”

Offensive lineman John Fallaw appreciates when the Wolves wear down opponents with their triple-option offense.

“This game definitely, the first quarter you could kind of tell that they’re [Kaneland] kind of starting to yell at each other,” Fallaw said. “When teams do that, they start to panic. That’s when you know you’re doing a good job.”

Tying the record: Vasey’s seven touchdowns against Kaneland ties the Wolves’ playoff record set by quarterback Samson Evans, who scored seven touchdowns in Prairie Ridge’s 51-24 win over Montini in the second round of the 2016 playoffs.

Prairie Ridge went on to win the state title that season and repeated as state champion in 2017.

Strong finish for Skyhawks: Johnsburg won three of its last four games of the 2021 season and hoped that would help ignite the team for this season.

The Skyhawks started 1-3 but won four of their last five games and defeated Hyde Park 54-8 in their Class 4A first-round playoff game.

Johnsburg was eliminated by Rochelle 34-22 on Friday night, but the Skyhawks played the Hubs much tougher than their 60-34 setback in a Week 3 Kishwaukee River/Interstate 8 Blue Division game.

“As a team we had a heck of a second half of the season,” Skyhawks coach Sam Lesniak said. “We ran into some adversity early on, and credit to our kids, they never stopped believing. Our leaders did a great job of keeping the spirits high and they kept battling. The kids worked hard and never quit.

“We made some adjustments in the second half of the season. The kids executed the game plans. They battled until the final snap. The kids played with a lot of heart down the stretch and left everything on the field that last game. I’m proud of their continued hard work and effort.”

Johnsburg made the playoffs for the first time since 2018 and stretched its string of first-round playoff wins to seven. The Skyhawks’ last first-round playoff loss came in 2007.